


Anchored Down

by miyabimai (orphan_account)



Series: VIXX! Vampire AU [7]
Category: VIXX
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-03 22:15:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4116763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/miyabimai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hakyeon learns to share Sanghyuk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anchored Down

**Author's Note:**

> wah omg this is a mess, so much dialogue guys i'm sorry. Anyway, time for bits of Hakyeon's history, yay. At the end of the year I intend to edit almost every part of this series and have them join more fluidly but we'll see. There's probably a million typos, let me know if you spot one <3

There's the distinct rumble of thunder when Hakyeon approaches his window, shut tightly against the warm air. "Summer rain," he murmurs, as a flash of bright light comes. It's outdone by the roar of thunder, then the view outside is blurred, the rain starting to fall in streams rather than raindrops. "Summer storm," he corrects himself as he pulls the curtains across.

It's already summer again, the season where hunters get the most rest. Mornings are early, nights late, but the scarce five hours of darkness breeds as much death as the long winter nights do. Hakyeon thinks of Sanghyuk, and he glances at the time. Sanghyuk may be out hunting in the rain, or he may be sleeping.

He had gotten a text earlier in the day, about meeting for lunch tomorrow, and because he can never deny Sanghyuk, Hakyeon replies, as always, with an 'Of course'.

 

\-----

Hakyeon is stalking a long lithe woman, the hungry hunch of her back distinct of a new vampire. She had already taken down two humans in the span of a week, and each time she had gotten away, using her newborn speed. The weather was not helping either, as rain soaks his hair, clothes, everything. Lightening illuminates the corners he hides in, so he takes to the roofs. Even then the thunder is trying to deafen him. He flicks his wet fringe out of his eyes, hand curled firmly around the shaft of his bow and arrows already locked into his other hand.

She prowls this area often, and Hakyeon wonders if she had an attachment to this place when she was still human. Abruptly his tattoo warms, and he tenses as his gaze falls onto the shadows, and there she is, gliding out of the darkness.

It is an peculiar pity, Hakyeon's heart aches, watching her move. He can hear Mr Do's sad voice, pointing out how vampires like her, the amount of grace they move with often bespeaks the amount of power they will have as they mature. It is a waste, he hears the echo as he raises his bow.

A loud wail locks his muscles into place and Hakyeon stares as a child, a young child, runs out of the darkness as well, out from an alley. The rain does nothing to wash away the dirt caught in the boy's straggly hair, clothes hanging off his bone-thin frame.

The words the boy screams makes him loosen the bowstring, arrow already notched and pulled. Mama. The boy is screaming for his mother, and Hakyeon suddenly realises, as the boy's hand grips onto the woman's shorts, that the vampire is, was, the boy's mother.

The vampire is lurching away, hand at her throat as she tries to shake the boy away, her metallic voice screeching something. But Hakyeon can see her eyes when the lightning flashes again, her brown eyes flashing an unnatural gold and back and suddenly she is no longer the boy's mother as her irises settle for a sinister gold. Her mouth gapes open, fresh fangs ready. The boy's baby-bird shriek, breaks Hakyeon's confusion. He lets go of his arrow, the bowstring humming as he releases another, and then another, watching the silver arrows land head first into the woman's neck, then her heart, and then the arm whose hand has a death grip on her son's delicate wrist. She falls, the boy's screams still piercing the night air, competing with the thunder that shakes the ground below Hakyeon's feet.

He kicks the vampire's hand away from the boy's wrist, pulling out his arrows, the blood splatter making the boy scream again, trying to thrash away. Hakyeon curses at his own crudeness.

He ignores the small hand that meets the side of his neck as he bends down. "Quiet, shh," he soothes as he scoops the boy up with one arm, his slight frame weighing nothing.

"Mam- mama," the boy hiccups, tears drenching his already wet face. He looks down and at the sight of the body he snaps his head away, burying it in Hakyeon's shoulder, clinging onto Hakyeon. Hakyeon looks at the woman's face.

Hakyeon is already walking away briskly, wary of other vampires that may have heard the boy's screams. His car is not far, and he slides into the car, tossing his bow in the back. The boy is shaking now, still sobbing, and he is deathly cold even as Hakyeon brings the heat up in the car. He lifts his hands to the wheel, and the boy sobs harder, shaking his head and blabbering something incoherently as he clings to Hakyeon's shirt. He settles when Hakyeon puts one arm around. "Okay, okay," he says, more to himself, settling to hold onto the wheel with one hand. He drives as slow as he dares with one arm, through the storm.

He exhales when the security guard isn't by his usual post, the rain having chased him to shelter, and he parks, switching on the interior light. He looks down at the sniffling boy in his lap, at loss. At the lack of movement the boy looks up, and Hakyeon's heart breaks. The boy has his mother's eyes, the wide eyes red-rimmed and tired, snot dribbling down his upper lip. "What do I do with you now?" Hakyeon murmurs, feeling his wet clothes stick to the car seat as he shifts, the boy dripping more water over him.

"Hyung?" Hakyeon raises an eyebrow at the hoarse, small voice, and the boy shrinks away. "Did you... did you kill my mother?"

The boy meets his eyes, even as his bottom lip quavers. Despite the wailing before, the boy has an air of bravery around him, and Hakyeon sucks in a tiny breath. "What's your name?"

"Name?"

"Name."

"Sanghyuk," the boy says.

"Sanghyuk," Hakyeon says tentatively. "That wasn't your mother."

"It was!" Sanghyuk says, eyes fierce.

"It was, but now it isn't," Hakyeon says, pushing the boy's soaked hair back. "Did your mother ever tell you about vampires?" To this day the public mostly tells heavily-edited stories of vampires to their children, more to scare them into obedience, but there is enough reality in them.

"She became one, didn't she?" Sanghyuk whispers, eyes alight with knowledge too much for his age, and Hakyeon realises Sanghyuk was just hoping Hakyeon would tell him otherwise.

"Yes," Hakyeon says. "She did."

Sanghyuk bites down on his bottom lip. "Okay," he says, nodding hard, eyes lowered. Hakyeon is unsure of what to do, but he opens the car door, nudging the boy off his lap. He reaches to the back to get his weapons, and when he turns, arrows and bow in one hand, Sanghyuk instantly latches on to his free one, small hands gripping onto his fingers. Hakyeon leads him into the lift, into his apartment, and as he uses his elbow to punch in the keycode, he feels a tug on his fingers.

"Hm?' Hakyeon says, looking down as his lock clicks open. He pulls Sanghyuk in front of him to through the door first.

"You won't become a vampire too, will you?"

A shiver crawls under Hakyeon's skin, and he suddenly feels cold to the bone. He stares down at Sanghyuk, the door still open ajar. He exhales, Sanghyuk staring up at him and he shuts the door, tugging to make sure the lock goes in. He shakes his head, tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth and almost instantly Sanghyuk's tense shoulders relax.

"Where am I going to go?" Sanghyuk asks, releasing Hakyeon. Hakyeon swallows, hooking his bow onto the coat hanger next to his door, and the stained arrows he tosses into the kitchen sink. He sinks to his knees in front of Sanghyuk, and even with Hakyeon's lowered height, he doesn't pass Hakyeon's head. He sees Sanghyuk suppress a shiver, and Hakyeon figures he should get both of them into a shower, but this needs to be settled first. Sanghyuk's eyes are determined, and his fists are clenched tightly.

"Where were you before, Sanghyuk-ah?" Hakyeon asks gently.

"I was with Mama," Sanghyuk says, chin tipping up slightly. "Mama worked and raised me."

"And when..." Hakyeon can't find the words.

"The uncle let me stay," Sanghyuk says, Hakyeon assuming quickly it must have been some landlord. "I was going to the kitchen to ask for water when I heard him telling the auntie that Mama must have run away. I wanted to bite his fingers off."

A smile breaks out on Hakyeon's face, surprised at Sanghyuk's spite. "How old are you?"

"Eight and a half," Sanghyuk says easily, words giving away a typical child's desire to be older than what he is. "How about you?"

"Hm," Hakyeon's smile is still on his face. He lifts a finger, pushing away Sanghyuk's damp fringe. "I'm nineteen."

Sanghyuk frowns, his little forehead scrunching up. "My Mama was twenty-two, that's close right?"

Hakyeon can't help but notice the past tense, Sanghyuk already accepting his mother's death. He realises his mother must have been a teenager when she had Sanghyuk. He was oddly precocious, with a little mix of the child he is, and Hakyeon gets up, bringing Sanghyuk into the bathroom. Sanghyuk immediately pulls off his clothes, understanding, and Hakyeon takes his clothes, putting them in his washer. Hakyeon strips down to his boxers, putting in his shirt and jeans together. He goes back to Sanghyuk, who has stepped into the shower stall, waiting patiently.

Hakyeon pulls down the shower head, and he starts the water, putting the shampoo and body wash down on the floor for Sanghyuk to reach. "I suppose you can shower yourself?" Hakyeon asks, as he tests the warmth of the water.

"Yes," Sanghyuk nods, hand reaching out to brush at the water spurting out of the shower head. "Warm water," he says, awed, as he inches closer.

"Did you not have warm water?" Hakyeon asks, stunned. Sanghyuk shakes his head.

"Mama said we would need to pay for it, so we didn't use the heater either."

"Oh," Hakyeon says, bringing the water over Sanghyuk's head. His shoulders seem to relax, as he hesitantly leaves the spray of the warm water to scrub at himself with soap. While Sanghyuk goes at that, he brings the water over himself as well, and he passes the showerhead to Sanghyuk to rinse off as he soaps himself up as well.

"Aren't you going to take off your shorts as well?" Sanghyuk asks, and Hakyeon shrugs. "You should, it must be uncomfortable. I've showered with my friend in the neighbourhood before. He's a boy too."

Hakyeon chuckles, shaking his head, and Sanghyuk wrinkles his nose at him. Hakyeon grins back at the kid

He gets out first, letting Sanghyuk bask under the warm water. He dries quickly, going to his cupboards to pull out a towel. He finds the smallest tshirt he has, and he gives them to Sanghyuk when he comes out.

Sanghyuk still looks drowned in the cotton, and when Hakyeon pats the spot next to him on the bed, Sanghyuk crawls up. Hakyeon watches as he marvels at the softness of the bed. "Would you like to stay here with me? For a while?"

Sanghyuk looks up at him. "For a while?"

"Or as long as you want to," Hakyeon adjusts his words. He has to figure this out eventually.

"Okay," Sanghyuk nods, and a small smile finds its way on his face. Hakyeon's heart warms, and he pushes back the duvet. "Are we to sleep now?"

Hakyeon nods, amused.

"Our hair is still wet, you'd get a headache if you sleep with wet hair," Sanghyuk says. Hakyeon blinks. He had not bothered with that in years.

Sanghyuk stands his ground, frowning softly with his bottom lip sticking out. Hakyeon laughs, relenting. He goes off to get the towel again, and he dries Sanghyuk's hair the best he can, or until the boy was satisfied they won't both fall sick.

When they finally fall asleep, Hakyeon is woken up by Sanghyuk's tossing and turning. Hakyeon leans up on his arm, steadying the still-asleep Sanghyuk. He's unsurprised to see the tears staining his soft cheeks, and Hakyeon wipes away the tears gently, sighing. Sanghyuk murmurs something that sounds like 'mama' and Hakyeon lies back down, tucking the eight year old into his side.

At least Hongbin would have some kind of friend closer to his age, he muses. Hongbin came to the house, orphaned, lonely and determined to be a vampire hunter at the age of thirteen.

He stares up at his ceiling, wondering what exactly he is to do now.

~~

"Who is this?" Seokjin asks, when Hakyeon walks into Kyungsoo's house with Sanghyuk chattering. Sanghyuk snaps his mouth shut, shuffling behind Hakyeon immediately.

Hakyeon winces, glancing at Sanghyuk was staring wide eyed at Kyungsoo and Jaehwan.

"Kyungsoo, Seokjin, meet Sanghyuk, Sanghyuk, meet Kyungsoo and Seokjin, they are my friends," Sanghyuk bows nervously, a little bop of the head. Seokjin smiles warmly, moving to clap Hakyeon on the shoulder in greeting and then he squats, hand reaching to ruffle Sanghyuk's long hair. Sanghyuk squeaks, moving to the other side of Hakyeon. "Don't scare him, Seokjin."

Seokjin ignores him. "Hi," Seokjin says pleasantly. "I'm Seokjin."

"I know," Sanghyuk says, frowning slightly. Seokjin tilts his head, blinking.

"Then I guess I know your name, and you know mine," Seokjin says. "And friends know each other's names, so are you going to be my friend? I'd like you to be my friend." Hakyeon watches Sanghyuk consider the simple reasoning, nibbling on his bottom lip. He raises an eyebrow at Seokjin's ease as he handles Sanghyuk's apprehension. He looks at Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo shrugs.

Sanghyuk nods, sliding closer to Seokjin. "Want to hear a joke?" Seokjin offers, and Sanghyuk nods again. "What do you call a really really big pile of kittens?" He waits for Sanghyuk.

"A litter?" Sanghyuk says.

"Close," Seokjin nods seriously.

"What is it then?"

"A meowtain," Seokjin says. Hakyeon wants to bash his head into the wall and Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, stepping closer like he would take Sanghyuk away from Seokjin. But then there's a giggle, and Hakyeon smiles when Sanghyuk lets go of his hand.

"That's funny," Sanghyuk says, and Seokjin beams at him. "Do you have more?"

"Of course." Seokjin says, adjusting himself to sit cross-legged in front of Sanghyuk. Sanghyuk's still small enough, and Seokjin tall enough, for it to be the perfect arrangement so that they can both comfortably look at each other. "Now, what do you call a dinosaur who knows lots of words?"

"Where did you pick up a kid? Or at least, another kid," Kyungsoo says, amused. He closes his eyes for a moment like he had to brace himself when he hears Seokjin answer his own joke, "a thesaurus".

"A hunt," Hakyeon says, quiet enough so Sanghyuk can't hear. "His mom...And he's so much younger than Hongbin."

Kyungsoo was watching Sanghyuk intently. "By the end of the career you're going to have hundreds of children to take care of," Kyungsoo jokes. "How long?"

"About two weeks, I called work to get off." Hakyeon doesn't mention how he didn't feel safe enough to leave Sanghyuk alone, not when the boy started waking up with nightmares on some days, screaming for his mother. The shadows under Sanghyuk's eyes seemed to darken and tire the little boy's face. It took a week before Hakyeon figured that if he tired Sanghyuk out with activities, by the day end, he would be too tired to be left alone to his own thoughts, or even to dream. "Also Hongbin came to me, so I don't think it counts."

"He's cute."

"And precocious," Hakyeon sighs. "He snarks right back at me sometimes."

"You're fond of him," Kyungsoo remarks, and when Sanghyuk stays giggling at Seokjin's lamest jokes, he takes Kyungsoo further away.

"I don't know what to do with him," Hakyeon says honestly, gripping Kyungsoo's elbow. "But I don't want to do anything wrong for him," Hakyeon says, watching Sanghyuk gasp when Seokjin opens his palm, a flower made of red fire blooming right in the heart of Seokjin's palm. Sanghyuk shoots a glance at him, and Hakyeon gives him a thumbs up when he points at the fire flower. "And he doesn't seem intent on going anyway but staying with me."

"Then?"

"I thought I could meet your father. Just for a while. He did it for me, maybe..."

"You're nineteen, Hakyeon," Kyungsoo says. "My father was twenty-nine when he took you in."

"Either way," Hakyeon says, eyes fixed on Sanghyuk as Sanghyuk carefully accepts the flower from Seokjin, now encased in a cool bubble for him to hold safely. "There must be a way."

"He will be here at seven," Kyungsoo pulls his arm away, but only to wrap it around Hakyeon's waist, squeezing. "You see yourself in him."

"No," Hakyeon laughs. "Our parents may have been killed by vampires, but there is no way my parents would have been a strong vampire."

"She was strong?"

"She got away from me twice," Hakyeon smiles. "Plus she had all the telltale signs your dad told me of, for caution."

"So she was a powerful vampire."

"Could have been," Hakyeon says, reminding him that she died before she could mature.

Kyungsoo's eyes are dark with regret, but they are also cool with accustomance. The blend of resignment. "Yes."

~~

Kyungsoo did not get his bluntness from nowhere, his father was matter-of-fact with Hakyeon. Sanghyuk had rejected the idea of being adopted by Kyungsoo's family, having burst into tears when he heard what Kyungsoo's father had to say.

"Can't I stay with you?" Sanghyuk said, furiously rubbing his tears away before crawling into Hakyeon's lap to continue to cry in his shoulder and Hakyeon rubs slow circles on his back, sighing. He meets Kyungsoo's eyes, Kyungsoo standing across the room, watching. Kyungsoo's father is next to his son, bemused.

"He has formed an extraordinary attachment to you in the space of two weeks, Hakyeon," he says, and Hakyeon smiles wryly.

"I'm charming, what to do, Mr Do?" Hakyeon jokes, even as Sanghyuk tightens the circle of his thin arms around his neck, sniffling. "I like to think it's something to do with the I saved his life thing." Hakyeon settles for hugging Sanghyuk, nudging him. "Right?"

"I like you," Sanghyuk mumbles. "You're nice. I like you, hyung."

"I like you too," Hakyeon says, earning a snort from Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo hears the doorbell ring, and he nods at his dad, slipping away.

"Then why can't I stay with you?" Sanghyuk leans back, eyes wet and pleading.

"I..." Hakyeon looks to Kyungsoo's father, who seems deep in thought.

"If he doesn't have any paper records, the boy could remain unnoticed. In fact," Kyungsoo's father laughs. "The government entrusts it to the citizens to register their kids, not the other way round."

"And then when he gets older?" Hakyeon says.

"The worst is that he attends school a year late," Mr Do shrugs, the look on his face exactly what Kyungsoo has when they see how simple a situation can be. "My wife can tutor him, if you'd like, so that he can cover the first four years of primary school."

Hakyeon hesitates. "I can't pay you guys," Hakyeon says.

"You gave us the opportunity to have a third child," Kyungsoo's father, Hakyeon's legal adopter, smiles. "You cannot imagine how awful my wife felt for having joy in your parents' deaths, because we got you, your parents trusting us with you."

"I'm not going to be his father," Hakyeon says, horrified at the thought, as Sanghyuk squirms, wisely silent as he lets them talk.

"Hyung," Mr Do nods. "And plenty of older sibilings raise their brother and sisters."

"Well," Hakyeon says, squeezing Sanghyuk. "Would you like that?"

The sunshine grin on Sanghyuk's face, exposing his missing teeth, is enough of an answer.

So it leads to four years of nervous waiting, Hakyeon cautious to not linger long enough in shops with Sanghyuk to get questions from curious town residents. Sanghyuk is glued to him, only forced to stay with Kyungsoo and his parents when Hakyeon has to go for jobs.

He tries to give Sanghyuk the same childhood he had, but it's still different, when the boy is surround by him, Kyungsoo, Hongbin, Seokjin. A young child raised by a group of young twenty year olds. It gives him a bit of sunshine everyday, when he sees Sanghyuk delighting in the waterparks, or laughing hysterially as Hakyeon attacks him with tickling fingers, or when he works hard, perserveres to keep up with the group of them on a mountain hike.

It is their personal game, for Sanghyuk to work his small fingers at Hakyeon's tightly clenched fist—not _too_ tightly— trying to open the fist and flatten it to expose Hakyeon's palm. It is obvious that for every year he grows he gets a little stronger, for every year he manages to get another finger loosened before he gives up.

His thin limbs thicken with lean muscle and slight fat, eyes brighten with the light of a child allowed to run free and fearless, his skin loses its initial malnourished pallor to flush with health as fully as his hair thickens out, now that he eats well; he is the exact embodiment of what Hakyeon wanted for him.

He's the perfect little student as well, amusing Kyungsoo's mother with his wit and razor-sharp mind. He enters the local school run by her with little difficulty, scoring scores that Hakyeon could only dream of when he was a student himself. School may have been easy for Sanghyuk, but the adopting process proves difficult. There was a need to take him away for reasons unknown even to Hakyeon, Sanghyuk biting and clawing at the social workers as they take him away from Hakyeon.

The first visit was the worst, not knowing what to expect. Sanghyuk had hurled himself at Hakyeon, begging to be taken back. Hakyeon could not help be self-conscious of the judging eyes of the social workers, afraid of any bad report that would take Sanghyuk away.

"Don't leave me," Sanghyuk whispers, hands small starfishes clinging on to Hakyeon's hands, eyes slipping shut as Hakyeon kisses his cheeks, which were damp with tears. Kyungsoo is silent as he pulls Hakyeon away, Hakyeon shaking in agitation as he watches Sanghyuk be held back by strangers, watches him wilt. His eyes, always lit with the fire of a determined, mature child, loses their fight for the first time, and Hakyeon's throat closes in on itself as he fights tears himself.

His bed is cold without the coltish boy refusing to sleep and wanting to stay up, apartment bereft of bright giggling and endless questions, and Hakyeon found himself having to remind himself that he did not need to stop by Kyungsoo's home at three a.mto pick up an already-asleep Sanghyuk. Hakyeon couldn't sleep properly, and he couldn't decide what to eat without Sanghyuk deciding for him.

Fear gave way to fury in the months that Sanghyuk was torn away from him. He found cutting anger from Sanghyuk's pain and his own, and he took every job available. Kills were cruelly messy, merciless, his bowstring humming a deadly melody into the silent nights as he went out of his way to release an arrow into every vampire he could find every night, the silver singing as it burns flesh.

When he got Sanghyuk back, when his doorbell rang and he flung the door open, he nearly fell over, legs weak with joy when Sanghyuk crashes into him, arms tight around his middle as he sobs. The social workers had smiled, the smile freezing Hakyeon's blood as they scan what they could see of the apartment , before passing Hakyeon Sanghyuk's first passport and registered papers, before leaving.

"Oh, my precious boy," Hakyeon says softly, kneeling and pushing back Sanghyuk's sweat-damp hair away from his forehead. "Don't cry, you'll get yourself all warm."

"You too," Sanghyuk says through tears, fingers brushing against Hakyeon's cheeks, coming away wet with tears. "Hyung," he croaks, and Hakyeon nods. "Am I going to stay with you forever now? Forever and ever?"

"Yeah," Hakyeon laughs. "Forever." It doesn't escape his notice that Sanghyuk has shot up in height during his absence, his head passing Hakyeon's at the same lowered height those four years ago.

He has yet more to grow.

~

"What are you watching?"

Hakyeon looks up from the television, smiling as he pats the seat next to him. "A cooking show." Sanghyuk's hair drips water over the collar of his shirt, and Hakyeon clucks his tongue. "Will you just dry your hair properly?"

"It's going to dry anyway," Sanghyuk says, in all of his teenage reasoning and natural stubborness as he runs fingers through his hair, squeezing out more water to drench his collar.

"You'll get a cold," Hakyeon says, turning back to his show. Sanghyuk has imitated his naggings before, word for word, with perfectly matching inflections and tone, so Hakyeon doesn't bother for lengthy speeches anymore. The seventeen year old should be mature enough to know what he should and should not do. "How was school?"

"Okay," Sanghyuk shrugs, and Hakyeon looks at him again, the afternoon sunlight streaming through the windows.

"Just okay?" Hakyeon says, smile on his lips, and Sanghyuk pulls a couch pillow onto his lap, eyes rolling.

"Just okay," Sanghyuk repeats. "A load of homework, but that can be finished."

"Didn't you have a test recently?"

"I did fine," Sanghyuk says, and Hakyeon gives him a long look. "What?"

"You mean you got an A," Hakyeon waves a hand. "You forget that not many can score straight As, you obnoxious brat."

"Hey!" Sanghyuk protests, whacking Hakyeon with the pillow. Hakyeon blocks it easily, smushing it into Sanghyuk's face. Sanghyuk garbles, pushing him away. He has a grin on his face as he rolls off the couch, calling defeat as he reaches for his schoolbag, abandoned against the coffee table, to act as a shield from Hakyeon's attack. "Mercy," he says, laughter spilling past his lips.

Sanghyuk has learnt to have sweet-tempered grace from Hongbin, picked up the easy-going nature that Seokjin lives by, and Kyungsoo's quietness has made itself part of his character, somewhat. Thus he is not really the product of Hakyeon's sole upbringing, but of the people Hakyeon had around him. Hakyeon would think it is a miracle if he managed to raise a boy on his own.

He is not completely perfect, even in Hakyeon's fond eyes, because there is an impulsiveness and stubbornness in him that Hakyeon has been unable to nag away. Hongbin jokes that he intends to raise Sanghyuk a saint, and Hakyeon thinks if that is so, Sanghyuk will become a saintly rock, seeing how he is impossibly immovable when he has set his mind on things.

He watches Sanghyuk now, his dark hair shining under the sunlight that streams through the window and warms them on a chilly winter morning, eyes slightly wide-set and almond-shaped. His pen flows smoothly and confidently against paper as he works on his math, writing out formulas that Hakyeon shudders at.

He sees a blossoming young man, and if Han Yoonyi, a lady that Hakyeon only knows to have slightly wide-set and almond-shaped eyes, were to see her son, he thinks she would be proud.

~~

Hakyeon hears Sanghyuk rummaging everywhere, and he glances at him when he walks into the kitchen, opening and shutting cupboards, grumbling under his breath. He bumps into Hakyeon's side by the stove when he scans the countertop, staring at the surface intently. He makes a disgusted noise, before disappearing back to the living room, where drawers are dragged open noisily. Hakyeon leaves the pot of soup to bubble away, peeking out of the kitchen.

Sanghyuk has let down the sofa, transforming it into the bed that he sleeps on at night, now too big to be sharing a bed with Hakyeon. It started to disturb his sleep as well, when Hakyeon slips into the apartment in the dead of the night or even just a couple hours before Sanghyuk has to wake for school. Sanghyuk drops all the pillows on the floor, palms running over the mattress.

"Looking for something?" Hakyeon says, as Sanghyuk sinks down onto the mattress so he could pull his already emptied bag onto his lap and dig into air.

"My necklace," Sanghyuk says, tossing the bag aside.

Hakyeon raises an eyebrow.

Sanghyuk looks up. "The one with two rings," Sanghyuk says, ruffling his hair. "Can't find it."

"Did you put it in your other bag?"

"Why would I?" Sanghyuk says, shrugging. "I don't even put it in bags I always hang it up."

Hakyeon goes to take the bag, and starts searching.

"I swear it can't be in the bag," Sanghyuk says, watching Hakyeon rummage. "I never..." He trails off when Hakyeon comes up with a necklace, two rings looped through. Hakyeon is smiling even as Sanghyuk grabs it, blabbering still that he would have never put it in the bag, that he would either hang it up or leave it on his bed but Hakyeon hushes him.

"Sometimes you have to know when a fight is lost," Hakyeon tells him, chuckling at Sanghyuk's obstinate face.

"Gah," Sanghyuk grumbles, rolling over and burying his face into his blankets. "I swear though, really," he says, still fighting and Hakyeon pats his shoulder. He notes that Sanghyuk's hand remains closed over the necklace that Hakyeon does not remember him buying, but he leaves it.

~~

Hakyeon stabs Sanghyuk with the end of his own pen, and Sanghyuk ignores it, continuing his essay. "Oi," Hakyeon says, continuing to poke Sanghyuk with the pen.

"Yeah?" Sanghyuk says, eyes fixed on his paper as he finally shrugs one shoulder in an attempt to get the pen away. Sanghyuk's phone buzzes, just a reach away from his paper and his eyes flicker to it, hesitating before he drops the pen, turning to Hakyeon. "Yeah?" Hakyeon was watching, suspicious, and he squints. Sanghyuk blinks at him, face innocent as he leans back in his chair. He peeks at Hakyeon's report, papers spread on the opposite side of Sanghyuk's work. "You're done?"

"No," Hakyeon says. "But something's been bugging me." Sanghyuk's eyebrows furrow, and his hand comes up to fiddle with the chain of his necklace, and Hakyeon's eyes are drawn to the motion. "Has something been going on with you?"

Hakyeon cuts to the chase, as he has always done with Sanghyuk. He has never intended to be Sanghyuk's parent, going around in weird tactful circles the way parents do, he prefers their relationship like what it is now—as siblings. Hakyeon grins when Sanghyuk's eyes flash. "Spill."

Sanghyuk starts fiddling with his fringe, and he pouts. "Can I not."

"No," Hakyeon teases. "That's not going to work on me now." He widens his eyes threateningly when Sanghyuk's pout becomes more pronunounced, cheeks puffing cutely.

"Fine," Sanghyuk says, and Hakyeon leans his weight onto the table, expectant. "But, like, first," he says, swallowing. "You know those nights when you don't come home? When I was younger, but old enough to stay here and not go to Kyungsoo's place?"

"Yeah..." Hakyeon says, not quite understanding where this is going.

"You were like... having," Sanghyuk mumbles. "You know."

"I was," Hakyeon says, eyebrow raised. Sanghyuk can't even look at him, and Hakyeon presses his lips together tightly to suppress a laugh. "Casual stuff, people with my job don't exactly date unless we're in the same career."

"Was it with guys or girls?"

Hakyeon stops breathing for a second.

"I mean," Sanghyuk says immediately. "Just out of curiousity, and I, I don't know, was-"

"Guys," Hakyeon interrupts. He snorts. "Wait," he looks at Sanghyuk. "Was that all you were worried abou- wait no," he shakes his head. "I was thinking that..." he trails off. He's confusing himself.

"I..." Sanghyuk says, and he gives in to the temptation, messing up his own hair. Hakyeon watches, wondering where Sanghyuk picked up that terrible habit from. "Like, there's this guy at school, and we were being dumb, hanging out in a classroom doing work, and I don't know, he's nice, and he suddenly, kissed me? And it didn't feel weird but he said we had to keep it a secret because it was wrong or something."

"Did he give you the necklace?" Hakyeon asks, amused. Sanghyuk flushes and Hakyeon sighs dreamily. "Ah, to be young and in love."

Sanghyuk sputters. "I'm not in love," Sanghyuk says immediately, looking down at the table. "Well, sort of. I don't think it should feel like this."

"Feel like what?"

"He's all so on edge about it," Sanghyuk shrugs. "It gets annoying sometimes, but yeah."

"It's just that most people like the opposite sex, so maybe as guys we're judged for liking guys, but it's not wrong," Hakyeon says. "And if he's like that you shouldn't be with him."

"Why?" Sanghyuk says. "It's not because you don't want me to date right, you never mentioned it but, I mean, this is the first time I, I guess, dated a person, well-" He groans, putting his head down and smushing his cheek against his paper and the cool wood of the table.

"You're free to date, you're at the age," Hakyeon says, patting Sanghyuk's hair. He smoothes down the places Sanghyuk had messed up in his embarrassment. "It's just that if he's going to be like that, I don't think he's very worth it because he obviously wouldn't like to be seen with you."

"Really?" Sanghyuk says, lifting his head.

"Yeah, he's not worth the potential heartbreak," Hakyeon smiles at the curious look on Sanghyuk's face. "There's still many other people out in the world, and plus, I think you are worth your weight in gold."

"Of course you would say that," Sanghyuk wrinkles his nose, but then his face relaxes into a smile. "Okay."

"Okay," Hakyeon copies him. Then he picks up his pen again and pokes Sanghyuk's cheek. "Now get back to your work."

"You're the one that interrupted me!"

~~

Hakyeon stares at Sanghyuk.

"No," The words are out of Hakyeon's mouth faster than he thinks it, and Sanghyuk's eyes are ablaze with a familiar fire.

"Why not," Sanghyuk says, arms crossed. "I've graduated high school."

"Is there not a job out there that interests you?" Hakyeon says, grabbing onto Sanghyuk's wrist. "Your grades are enough for anything."

"My heart is only enough for vampire hunting," Sanghyuk says. Hakyeon sighs, dropping his hand. "You said I could do anything I want."

"Anything that would keep you safe, and alive," Hakyeon says bitingly, feeling every scar on his body tingle with the reminder of his job's dangers.

"Even Hongbin does it! You train him, and he's only, what, six years older," Sanghyuk says, standing straighter. "You are safe and alive."

Not exactly, Hakyeon thinks to himself, fighting a bitter smile down. He sucks in corner of his lip, biting down on it as he stares Sanghyuk down. "Why do you want this," he says.

"Because you do it," Sanghyuk says, like it is the most obvious thing in the world. "I've thought about it since I was young."

Hakyeon's lips curve unhappily, as he leans back in his chair. He had thought of this happening before, made sure to avoid the topic of his job as often as possible. While he can hide his tattoos, he cannot hide his bow and arrow and knives, cannot wipe away the blurry memory, but a memory nonetheless, of Hakyeon killing a vampire right in front of his eyes.

Those eyes are watching him intently now, and it makes him nervous, his gaze falling to Sanghyuk's pale hands that hasn't even held a kitchen knife in his life. Hakyeon has also never denied him anything in his life. "One condition," Hakyeon says eventually, and Sanghyuk stops fidgeting instantly. "I train you. And you learn to hunt my way."

"That's what I want," Sanghyuk says. "To be like you." Hakyeon can't even smile at that.

~~

"Do you think a mother with potential would make for a good vampire hunter son," Hakyeon says into the phone, watching Sanghyuk read through textbooks of vampire theory. The textbooks, borrowed from Kyungsoo's ancestors, are dog-earred, the spines and corners tattered. The yellowed pages look fragile, leaf thin and translucent between Sanghyuk's fingers.

"Forget his mother, Hakyeon," Kyungsoo grumbles. "Sanghyuk will tell you that he is his own."

"I know," Hakyeon whines, and Sanghyuk glances over and snorting. Hakyeon brandishes a fist at him from across the room, mouth curling into a snarl. Sanghyuk fakes a cringe, lips breaking into a smile before returning to his studies. "I just... I don't..."

"He's the golden child, Hakyeon," Hongbin pipes in, and Hakyeon can hear Jaehwan harrumphing in the background of this multiway call. "He'll be fine."

"The golden child has broken his arm climbing a tree before," Hakyeon jokes weakly.

"He's not going to fall off a building," Hongbin says, assuring him. "I mean, even Jaehwan can't fall off." There's an indignant 'excuse me?' screeched in the background, and Hongbin hushes Jaehwan.

"Will you at least tattoo something on him that will keep him safe?" Hakyeon says, tugging furiously on the window blinds string. The support creaks in protest and he lets go off it immediately.

Seokjin laughs, his only contribution to this call so far, but Kyungsoo stays silent, until Hakyeon bursts out. "Fine! I know it doesn't work like that." Hakyeon sighs, messing his hair up in frustration.

"Hakyeon," Kyungsoo says, and Hakyeon can almost feel Kyungsoo gripping onto his arm, the touch enough to anchor Hakyeon, to convince him that that nothing will be lost.

"On the bright side," Seokjin says, in his usual take-it-easy way. "You don't need to be worried about him facing a vampire defenseless."

"No," Hakyeon says, a sour taste developing in his mouth. "He'll just face them with a weapon in one of his hands and his fate in the other. Like we all do."

~~

Hakyeon tries not to hold back because it will not save Sanghyuk in a fight. Really really tries not to hold back, tries not to wince when his knuckles make contact with Sanghyuk's ribs, decking him.

"Always make sure you know where the hands are," Hakyeon says simply, reaching a hand out to pull him up. Sanghyuk grabs it, heaving and then he's up, ready. Hakyeon pauses. "And I don't have fingernails that are super sharp, so," he takes advangtage of Sanghyuk following his pause, and then he's already throwing Sanghyuk over his shoulder, one hand gripping on his wrist and the other on his neck. He knows his fingertips are going to leave a bruise as Sanghyuk falls onto the mat with a loud thump. That fall too.

Sanghyuk sighs, rolling over onto his stomach. The back of his shirt is soaked, sticking to his skin. Hakyeon sits on his butt, patting his back gingerly. It's been only a year, but Sanghyuk's muscles were becoming more prounounced, and when Hakyeon stands to pull Sanghyuk up again, he notes how easily the muscles in his arms flex. "Want a break?"

"Yeah," Sanghyuk says, going for his water.

"How's weapon training with Seokjin?"

"He cheats with all his magic," Sanghyuk grumbles good-naturedly, throwing a bottle to Hakyeon as he comes back from across the room. "He's ridiculously fast. Even you are too fast."

"He's trying to help you copy the speed of vampires, and I've had years," Hakyeon says, sitting and crossing his legs. He tries not to look at the thin shadows Seokjin's dagger makes when he barely manages to stop the knife from cutting into Sanghyuk. "Do the cuts hurt?"

"Seokjin hyung said it would be good for pain tolerance," Sanghyuk says, glancing at his deepest one, the scab already drying up. "Sounds sadistic to me."

Hakyeon laughs. He entrusts Seokjin with that part of training, because Hakyeon doesn't think he can spend an afternoon nearly cutting Sanghyuk and then spend the nights stabbing a vampire dead. He's good enough to know that he'd cut Sanghyuk a lot less than Seokjin will, but no. Sanghyuk stopped protesting when Hakyeon told him that he won't go through with the training then. "Don't fall for Seokjin's stunning good looks and that dorky awkward thing he has going on, he can stake a vampire in less than two minutes."

Sanghyuk tosses himself onto his back in front of Hakyeon, and looks right at Hakyeon. "Can you?"

Hakyeon admits for the first time where he isn't better than most in this job, even though he cannot help the power difference between a human and a person gifted with magic. "I do it in two and a half."

~~

It scares Hakyeon a little, when he sees Sanghyuk's eyes gleam as he learns of Hakyeon's track records, like they are all something for him to match up to, or beat. He doesn't like seeing how the number of bruises on his skin multiply slowly, as Sanghyuk picks up Hakyeon's tricks, becomes more dfficult for Hakyeon to beat. The only reason he still loses is because he takes risks, guided by his implusiveness, and Hakyeon doesn't even know how to beat it into him that it might one day be the death of him.

But he has become good, like Hakyeon had hoped, and the rumors that spread around the office when he finally introduces him to the organisation, reaches Sanghyuk less than fifteen minutes after Hakyeon leaves him to get a job report.

"You didn't tell me you guys were one of the best," Sanghyuk says disbelievingly as he walks to the car with Hongbin and Hakyeon. "Now apparently there's expectations for the new trainee of Cha Hakyeon."

"Welcome to the party," Hongbin laughs, bumping into Sanghyuk jokingly. They giggle, and Hakyeon takes a glance backwards before he uses the edge of his hand to smack them on the back of their necks.

"This kid, he said he was Jungkook."

"Jungkook's fifteen, Sanghyuk," Hakyeon says. "You trust a kid? I don't even trust you yet." Hongbin barks out a laugh, starting the car.

"Either way, he said that Seokjin hyung and you were the dark horses of the company," Sanghyuk says, strapping himself in and leaning forward to speak to the two of them better. "Like mysterious rogues or something."

"We aren't exactly government agent rejects, no," Hakyeon agrees. "And we play with magic. They don't like magic to keep up their ego."

"Oh," Sanghyuk says. Hakyeon glances down to see him rubbing the front of his neck tentatively. Hakyeon can almost see the tattoo glow under his skin.

"We play our game, and they play theirs, but we still get the job done," Hakyeon rattles through the old speech that he had given Hongbin a few years ago. "Magic is supposed to be illegal because the government doesn't want anyone to know that they aren't in control. Magic bypasses that control. Technically they can jail us, but we have a high kill rate, so they aren't going to toss us out. As long as they don't see it, that is." Hakyeon watches through the mirror as Sanghyuk leans back, contemplative.

"Still want to be like me, Sanghyuk?" Hakyeon asks.

The confident nod from Sanghyuk nearly disappoints Hakyeon, if he was to tell the truth.

~~

Sanghyuk's first kill was worth celebrating, mainly for Hakyeon to drown his relief in alcohol that Sanghyuk made it out alive. Another reason was because Seokjin was leaving to do research. Even socerors had PhD equivalents apparently.

Sanghyuk's disappointed, even though Seokjin tries to cheer him up with a flower in a bubble that floats insistently above his head, like a crown, similar to the one he had recieved from him all those years ago. "Come on, kid," Seokjin smiles sweetly, even as Sanghyuk sulks at him a little. "You can remember me when you remember that the best thing to do is trust your instincts with the dagger."

"That's every kill, hyung."

"Exactly, so you can miss me everyday," Hakyeon laughs with Seokjin, bopping him on the shoulder. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

Seokjin shrugs. "I only got the confirmation last week."

"And how about..." Kyungsoo says.

"He'll deal," Seokjin says. Hakyeon shrugs when Sanghyuk and Hongbin give him curious looks.

When they all crash at Hakyeon's place, it's hard for Hakyeon's heart not to ache, watching Seokjin fall asleep Sanghyuk's bed, Kyungsoo on the armchair, and Hongbin curled up on the floor with a stolen pillow and blanket, while Sanghyuk crawls into his bed with him, like he was small all over again. The sleeping arrangement was still the same, even after ten years, and the scene was familiar.

He swallows, hard, realising how much things are finally changing. He lets Sanghyuk's hand grip onto his and he falls asleep, and Hakyeon wonders, as he notices how Sanghyuk's features have started maturing, if this was how parents felt, watching their kid grow up. He chuckles quietly at the thought.

He'll settle for being his hyung.

~~

Hakyeon likes to joke that he specialises in attacking groups or areas labelled as hives, where vampires collude to form efficient hunting groups, like wild dogs. In reality, he just stumbled across too many on purpose.

This one night though, he found a lone stalker, the vampire couldn't have been more than sixteen years old as a human. It was more like a sniping job, and the job was easy. Hakyeon, waiting to make sure he had hit home, gets ready to jump off the rooptop that the youth was passing by to get back his arrow when another figure comes screeching out of the shadows. Literally. Hakyeon resisted the urge to drop his weapons to clamp his palms over his ears to block out the metallic screams, as the vampire limps over. He watches, hands transferring their urge to cover his eyes onto an arrow and the bow, as the female vampire scoops up the dead youth in her arms, his head resting in her lap. She rocks violently back and forth, and the wailing continues. Hakyeon notes the grey of her sagging skin, her withered hair and bones jutting out, forming the shell of what she was.

Hakyeon doesn't know why she was in that shape, he never got an answer, vampires were supposed to heal perfectly. But what he realised that they may have been lovers, or they may have been mother and son, and as Hakyeon watches her run desperate fingers through the boy's hair, and kiss his forehead, he may have just murdered her son.

Hakyeon wonders how she discards any sense of stealth that vampires carry to mourn her son, especially in her state. Her sorrow anchors Hakyeon onto the roof, and when she throws back her head, another wild, bone-chilling scream tearing out of her, he doesn't even try to duck against the tiles to hide. She doesn't notice him. He sees that her teeth are gone, she is teethless, and that sends another shock through Hakyeon. She quietens, after that, and Hakyeon doesn't know what to do.

He sees blood, in the form of tears, so rich and dark that it's practically black, and no old textbook passed down from centuries of mages and socerors that Hakyeon has ever read mentioned such a thing.

Hakyeon feels bile rise to his throat when he sees the vampire clamp her blunt gums over the boy's neck, growling. Then he understands. That maybe they may have been mother and son, turned together, or they may have been lovers, love entombed in the eternity of vampiric life. But she is hungry, her teeth missing and her fingersnails ripped off, and she will eat this person she loves in an attempt to survive. Or she will try, at the very least.

So, Hakyeon releases the arrow with a simple motion straight into her heart, in an act of disgusted mercy, a complexity of emotions he thinks can only be held by humans.

So, Hakyeon likes to think that vampires are simply feral beings, whether they were newborns, or mature, or sloths or matriachs or patriarchs. The sloths and above hiearchy were supposed to have consciousness, with the ability to love, care, control their bloodlust. But Hakyeon argued further with Kyungsoo's father, he finally got him to admit that when it comes down to it all—like the starving pack of wild dogs eating the very pack they loved as family, a hungry vampire will eat those that they love too.

So, Hakyeon wonders, if he ever got to tear open a vampire's chest, will he find a heart, or will he find nothing.

~~

Hakyeon leans against the doorframe, glancing behind him as Hongbin squeezes past him with a box of Sanghyuk's clothes. Sanghyuk was already upacking his winter clothes into the top drawers, in preparation for winter. His apartment is sparse, he never found the need to buy furniture when Hakyeon's furniture was more than enough.

It was something Sanghyuk wanted, to have his own place, and the HQ was more than willing to provide Sanghyuk a place in an area that was in need of a vampire hunter. The only person that isn't willing is Hakyeon. But he knows it's something Sanghyuk wants, and when has Hakyeon denied Sanghyuk anything?

"Don't look so forlorn, or worried," Kyungsoo says, appearing behind Hakyeon with styrofoam bowls of _jjajangmyeon_ , the traditional food for moving in to a new place.

"He's moving out, how can I not be," Hakyeon says, his throat closing in on itself.

"A reminder that I live like around the corner, if that comforts you," Kyungsoo says, placing the bowls in the center of the studio apartment that was to be the living area.

"Move the bowls into the kitchen," Hakyeon says, pointing to the counters that form the kitchen, right next to the door. Sanghyuk has already plugged in his phone and laptop on the island counter that stands perpendicular to the main door. His wallet and keys are tossed there too.

Sanghyuk's apartment matches him. A studio apartment, empty spaces everywhere to be coloured in and filled up by Sanghyuk's inexperienced hand.

One time Hakyeon watched this documentary on the Akan people of Africa. They often weaved their traditional cloths with with multiple colours that described or held the wishes they had for their life. Hakyeon wants to weave himself into the cloth of Sanghyuk's life, to remind him that there's someone to go home to when the apartment seems a bit too empty, too quiet, or when he wants to talk to someone, or when he's just hungry, and so he is standing by the door, waiting for the delivery men to come.

Sanghyuk isn't surprised, he knows Hakyeon better than to be surprised when the gift comes, a soft chenille carpet, the dark silvery colour making the fibres look almost iridescent and translucent in the panel of sunlight that streams in from the only window in the place.

Hakyeon thinks its a good colour, as Sanghyuk flops on it. It's not jarring, it doesn't pop against the dark wood of the apartment floor even as it sprawls over the living area and crosses the path of the door. But it's there, underfoot, taken for granted, it will welcome Sanghyuk home everyday with a soft reminder of all the gentle comfort it has to offer.

Just as Hakyeon was. Just as Hakyeon hopes to be.

\-----

When Hakyeon meets Sanghyuk the next day, it strikes him, as it always does everytime, how much Sanghyuk has grown when he stands next to him in the bus. His shoulders are broader than his, and he has surpassed Hakyeon's height in the most recent years.

"I can't believe you are already twenty-four," Hakyeon sighs as Sanghyuk slurps up his noodles. Sanghyuk smiles while he chews, swallowing.

"You mean you can't believe you are thirty-four," Sanghyuk says, flinching when Hakyeon raises a hand threateningly.

"I'm not old," Hakyeon says, earning a giggle from Sanghyuk.

He squints at Hakyeon's face, finger tracing at Hakyeon's smilelines in the air and Hakyeon jerks away, smacking the finger away with a growl. Sanghyuk's grin might as well be glued on. "Okay," Sanghyuk nods, tone unconvinced as he resumes eating. His phone buzzes, just lying right next to Sanghyuk's tea. Sanghyuk's phone buzzes, just beside his drink and his eyes flicker to it. He hesitates, and he ignores it, the phone clacking against the cheap plastic table as he flips it screen-down.

"So what has been up with you?" Hakyeon asks, and Sanghyuk shrugs.

"Hunting, the usual," Sanghyuk says. "I never asked about your trip to Japan last year."

"That was ages ago," Hakyeon says. "I asked HQ if you could come with me, that it'd be a skillset for you to learn, but they said-"

"They want me to gain more experience?" Sanghyuk cuts in.

Hakyeon snorts. "Yeah." He gives Sanghyuk a long look, and Sanghyuk tilts his head, leaning back suspiciously.

"What?" he says through his mouthful of food.

"They forget that my _Sanghyukie_ is really really good at what he does."

Sanghyuk coughs, forcing himself to swallow the food. He reaches for his drink, still laughing into the cup as he takes a shaky gulp of tea. "Shit, hyung, don't pull that on me unless you want my way of death to be by choking on food."

Hakyeon winks, earning another scandalised cough from Sanghyuk. Hakyeon finishes his food first, watching Sanghyuk devour his own bowl. He smiles brightly when Sanghyuk glances up at him and Sanghyuk mirrors his smile. It's easy to be with Sanghyuk, Hakyeon clinging onto his elbow as they follow the sidewalk back to HQ. He leans in to watch Sanghyuk reply the earlier text, noting the name, which were simply initials.

"Who's that?" He asks, smirking slightly. "Someone new?"

Sanghyuk blinks down at him, and he looks back down with a small smile on his lips like there was a joke Hakyeon wasn't in on. "Something like that," he says finally, when he pockets his phone.

Hakyeon purses his lips. "Where did you meet him?" Hakyeon says.

"Around," Sanghyuk waves a hand vaguely through the air. "Kyungsoo and Yoongi have met him already."

"And I haven't?" Hakyeon exclaims.

"You were in Japan when I first brought him to them!" Sanghyuk says, nudging him with the elbow he holds on to. "Another time maybe, he's a busy person..." Sanghyuk trails off as he nods, staring out in front of them. His bottom lip is folded over his teeth again as he nibbles on it.

Hakyeon watches, humming lightly once. "Did he give you a necklace?" Hakyeon says, lips curving upwards knowingly. Sanghyuk snaps out of his reverie, eyes meeting his with a blank look. "You know, one with maybe... two rings on it?"

Sanghyuk makes a strangled noise, holding up a hand as if it would push that memory away and turning his head away. "Oh god, no," Sanghyuk shudders. "I can't believe you remember that."

"Of course I do," Hakyeon says, pressing a fist to his chin in deep thought. "The first time Sanghyuk fell in love-"

"Sort of," they say in unison, and they both break into laughter as they turn the corner to face the the HQ's main entrance.

"I would ask you for dinner," Hakyeon says as they make their way up. "But I suppose you want to spend time with whoever that is."

They reach Sanghyuk and Hongbin's shared office section. "Hey hey," Hongbin says, rolling over in his office chair to thump Hakyeon on the hip. "Long time no see."

"I ate lunch with you on Monday, Hongbin."

Hongbin rolls his eyes. "Don't talk about lunch, I haven't had it yet," he points accusingly to a report file. "Someone in the archives lost one of my case files, I have to redo it." Hongbin sighs. "Like I'd remember a kill that happened a month ago."

"Which case?" Sanghyuk asks, going to sit in his chair. Hakyeon leans on the office divider. "Was I there?"

"Nope," Hongbin says. "I'll figure it out eventually."

"Hyung?" They both look over at Sanghyuk, who huffs. "Hakyeon."

"Yeah?"

"I'll take you up on the dinner."

"Cool," Hakyeon beams, looking at Hongbin. "You are invited."

Hongbin gives him a thumbs up. "It's actually just Kyungsoo cooking with my help," Hakyeon muses. "But do you think he'll kill me if we have to cook more now?"

"Oh," Sanghyuk grins. "I'm sure he will."

~~

Sanghyuk is distracted by his phone more at night, and it amuses Hakyeon to see him bite his lip to fight a smile.

"He's been like that months," Kyungsoo tells him as they serve up the food. "Love-struck."

"I heard you met him."

Kyungsoo drops the chopsticks, all five sets of them, the metal creating a chaotic symphony against the ceramic tiles of the kitchen floor. "My bad," Kyungsoo murmurs. Sanghyuk pokes his head in at the noise, hands gripping onto the kitchen doorframe. Hakyeon doesn't miss the phone that is still in his hand. Kyungsoo looks at him, and Sanghyuk blinks back at him. Sanghyuk ducks back into the main area, where Hongbin and Yoongi are chatting. "Yeah, he's a nice person."

"Define nice," Hakyeon says impatiently. "I don't even know how Sanghyuk had the time to find a date but if it's someone that somehow has coped with our kind of schedule..."

"He cares for Sanghyuk," Kyungsoo turns around to face Hakyeon, the rinsed cutlery tightly gripped in his hands now. Water drips onto the kitchen floor. "If that's what you are worried about. He might be more smitten with Sanghyuk than Sanghyuk is with him. He might just be the harbour Sanghyuk needs."

Hakyeon laughs, like the laughter would fill up the empty pang in his chest the same way it fills up the empty kitchen. It breaks on the edge of the jetty that is Hakyeon's petty jealousy. "And I thought I was his forever home," Hakyeon says jokingly, as if to make light of the situation.

Kyungsoo shakes off any remaining droplets of water on the cutlery. "Who said a ship can only have one harbour to call home?" Kyungsoo says, as he brushes past Hakyeon and out of the kitchen.

Hakyeon doesn't expect Sanghyuk to be missing from the dinner table, but he is, and when he looks around, Yoongi pats the seat next to him, asking Hakyeon to sit. "He said he needed to go out for a second," Hongbin says, already sticking his spoon into the soup pot. "Must be the boyfriend."

Hakyeon's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "He should have invited him over," Hakyeon says, sitting and taking some of the soup for himself.

"Maybe," Yoongi says non-committedly.

Sanghyuk returns quickly, they've barely gotten past half their rice when he slips through the main door. "Sorry," he pants, obviously having run back. He collapses into the seat next to Hakyeon, picking up his chopsticks.

Hakyeon smiles at him, and Sanghyuk ducks his head, feeding a spoon of rice into his mouth. Hakyeon's eyes linger on the red mark that sits just on top of Sanghyuk's collarbone, but then his gaze trips over a couple of dark spots sitting up higher on Sanghyuk's neck. Hakyeon frowns.

"Did you get cut?" Hakyeon asks, brushing his finger against the scars. Sanghyuk stiffens, pressing his hand to the same area immediately.

Yoongi coughs, waving a hand when Hakyeon looks over. Hakyeon slides his tea closer to him and Yoongi takes it, nodding. "The pavement had some rocks," Sanghyuk says eventually. "Got caught on it, that's all."

"Oh," Hakyeon says as Sanghyuk stuffs his mouth with some chicken. "Okay."

~~

Hakyeon doesn't think much of it, as he leaves Kyungsoo's place with his requested bottle. It's late, Hakyeon having stopped by after an uneventful patrol. He wonders if Sanghyuk would still be up, heading towards his apartment. He considers crashing there, feeling his bones creak with weariness. He spots Sanghyuk from afar, on the top of the stairs, and he stops in his tracks, taking a step backward to be covered by the shadows. Sanghyuk should know better.

He should know better than to be distracted and out in the open. Hakyeon is frozen as he watches the man in front of Sanghyuk slide forward, Sanghyuk beaming at him before he leans in for a kiss, fingers easily finding his boyfriend's own to twist together tightly. They pull apart, but Sanghyuk is fiddling with his boyfriend's shirt as he talks, brushing off lint. It strikes Hakyeon that he doesn't even know the person's name. He figures its any time now that he should meet Sanghyuk's boyfriend and he steps forward. When he gets nearer, the bottle shatters against the concrete when a searing pain shoots down his arm, Hakyeon's fingers dropping the bag and bottle. The flames run under his skin scream a warning. Sanghyuk's eyes immediately find Hakyeon as the other male turns around.

"Hyung?" Sanghyuk calls, voice strained.

Hakyeon can't tear his eyes away from the man, the moonlight illuminating the unnatural paleness of his skin, the stillness with which he holds himself with all of a sudden. Hakyeon can only hear his own heartbeat and Sanghyuk's, as he lets the magic in his blood heighten his senses. Hakyeon pushes it again and again, begging for it to detect a heartbeat within the man Sanghyuk claims to love. He gets nothing.

"I'm- I'm sorry," Hakyeon manages, not even sure if they can hear him. The man blinks, and the miniscule movement has Hakyeon spinning around, running, and he can hear Sanghyuk's yell behind him.

Hakyeon should know better, when the vampire materialises in front of him, hand closing around his bicep to catch him. "Please listen to Sanghyuk," the man says quietly, as Sanghyuk reaches them.

"Hyung," Sanghyuk begs, as Hakyeon tries to rip away from the vampire. "Calm down, please." Hakyeon doesn't know what he's talking about as he thrashes away from the vampire, before he's finally released to Sanghyuk. Sanghyuk's hands clamp onto his shoulders. "Hyung, hyung, _breathe_." Hakyeon takes a gasp, and he finds himself short of air, his hands are numb as he stares back into Sanghyuk's face.

"Sanghyuk?" Hakyeon says, voice barely audible as he watches the vampire stand behind Sanghyuk, brown eyes uncannily holding concern in their depths.

"I'm sorry, hyung," Sanghyuk says, voice breaking. Hakyeon looks to him and he is horrified to see tears rimming his eyes. "I- I knew you wouldn't like it, I hid it from you," Sanghyuk says, words like bullets out of a machine gun. "I didn't know how to explain it to you, I thought it'd freak you out, and I'm right and I didn't want you to hate me or Taekwoon and-"

There's a loud ringing in his ears that drowns out Sanghyuk's babbling, and Hakyeon blinks rapidly. Taekwoon. So that's his name.

Hakyeon realises that maybe Sanghyuk has followed him in all the wrong ways, from the bad habits to the career choice and now this. Taekwoon meets his eyes over Sanghyuk's shoulder, and Hakyeon can hear the magic in his blood sing, singing a melody dripping with poison, and Hakyeon thinks maybe he pushed himself too far. Taekwoon's eyes widen just barely. The last thing Hakyeon sees is Taekwoon stepping forward, Sanghyuk's name on his lips.

~~

It feels like a nightmare.

Hakyeon stays under the duvet, heart constantly beating double-time. He doesn't know what to feel. He listens to the soft murmurs near him, Taekwoon's voice light and fleeting above Sanghyuk's richer voice. He knows it's day when Taekwoon's voice doesn't come anymore.

He doesn't know what to feel, even when Sanghyuk crawls into the bed with him, still mumbling apologies.

"I don't hate you," Hakyeon croaks out, sitting up. Taekwoon is gone, supposedly to wherever he sleeps in the day. He grips onto Sanghyuk's hands, just a little bigger than his, fingerpads pressing against the bones and soft skin. "I'm scared for you."

"Taekwoon would never hurt me," Sanghyuk says, and Hakyeon bites his tongue. He thinks of the emaciated vampire that tried to drink her own son's or lover's blood. "Hyung, maybe, maybe if you got to know him?"

Hakyeon can't fathom the idea as he drops Sanghyuk's hands and draw his knees up against his chest. He thinks of Taekwoon's eyes, the look in them soft as he watched Sanghyuk deal with Hakyeon. "You said Kyungsoo and Yoongi met him."

Sanghyuk nods. "They... they apparently work with vampires?" He looks apprehensive, as if worried he would be letting out yet another secret, so Hakyeon nods in return. "I know."

"Then why are you so-"

"Because he could hurt you!" Hakyeon says, the fear bubbling up again.

"He drinks my blood," Sanghyuk says, voice so quiet Hakyeon had to think twice about what he heard. "I'm not dead." The ringing is back in his head, and he shakes it away, pushing away the image of the scars Sanghyuk's neck.

"What happens when you get older, Sanghyuk?" The fire in Sanghyuk's eyes flickers. "I know you've thought about it," Hakyeon hates this conversation already. "I don't believe you can be this stupid."

"I know," Sanghyuk says. Hakyeon sees him bite his lip, swallowing. "I'll figure it out when I get there."

"What," Hakyeon says bitingly. "Become a vampire too?" Hakyeon looks down. Sanghyuk has drawn the blinds up. A slice of sunlight lies between them, and Hakyeon spreads his hands over it, feeling the warmth. "I won't be able to see you again."

"Why not," Sanghyuk says, voice wavering on the last word, because he knows why. It's a dirty trick, a cheap attempt from Hakyeon because he's the one that promised Sanghyuk a forever. He remembers the silly children's promise and here he is threatening to retract on that promise.

There is a forever, for Hakyeon, but he never thought that Sanghyuk would be there too. Hakyeon's lungs don't want to breathe, as Hakyeon imagines the day. "I'll meet Taekwoon," Hakyeon says, hearing Sanghyuk exhale shakily. He turns his hands over, palms empty. When he looks up, Sanghyuk is staring at his hands.

He watches Sanghyuk reach a hand out, pausing as the sunlight edges onto his fingertips, before his hand is hovering above Hakyeon's hands, stealing the light away. He drops his hand, gripping onto Hakyeon's hand. His eyes stay fixed on their hands, entwined.

It looks like Sanghyuk expects to see his own skin burst into flames.

 

~~~

Hakyeon would say he's never been this close to be a vampire, but that would be a bloody lie. Taekwoon's eyes are unreadable as he slips in through the door, hand already seeking out Sanghyuk's own. The way Sanghyuk tugs him closer, it's as if he feared that Hakyeon would attack Taekwoon. Taekwoon's gaze seems to only include Sanghyuk, the way his lips twitch upwards slightly when Sanghyuk looks at him.

"Hello," Hakyeon says first, gripping onto the back of the sofa. Taekwoon's gaze flickers to him.

"Are you feeling better?" Taekwoon asks, and Hakyeon is surprised to see him shift backwards, a pink tongue appearing to wet his lips.

The nervousness doesn't warm his heart yet. "I wouldn't be meeting you if I didn't, would I?"

Taekwoon seems to have a faint smile on his lips as he nods.

"This is terrific," Sanghyuk mutters. "I feel like a teenager bringing home his scandalous first date."

"I know how to be civil, Sanghyuk," Hakyeon bites out. "I taught you your manners." Sanghyuk catches himself at that, Hakyeon pulling out the parental figure card. He face falls into a familiar sulk when Taekwoon chuckles quietly, and Sanghyuk's hand reaches out to thwack Taekwoon's hip. Hakyeon wonders how this child is considered an adult. They sit, Taekwoon settling himself on the armchair closest to Hakyeon. Hakyeon waits.

"I suppose, you would like to know if I'm going to kill Sanghyuk," Taekwoon says, and Hakyeon exhales.

"He told me you won't," Hakyeon says, and he bites his lip. "I'll have to take his word for it."

"I-"

"I'm only saying it's okay because I'm assuming you make Sanghyuk happy," Hakyeon cuts him off, words spilling out of him. He had spent the whole day thinking. "I'm assuming that you do like Sanghyuk, I'm assuming you aren't using him as a convenient food source, I'm assuming that Sanghyuk knows what he's doing because-" Hakyeon nods, trying to convince himself. "He always has. I'm making a lot of assumptions here, Taekwoon."

Taekwoon lifts his gaze from a fidgeting Sanghyuk to stare Hakyeon straight in the eye. "I do love Sanghyuk," Taekwoon says softly, the subtle correction making Hakyeon flinch.

"Dangerous assumption," Hakyeon says, feeling like Taekwoon's eyes are saying something else entirely apart from this conversation.

"Fact," Taekwoon says, standing his ground and Hakyeon gives it to him, nodding again.

"That's good, now," Hakyeon says, glancing at Sanghyuk's face, painted with disbelief. "Could you go into your bathroom for a while?"

Sanghyuk frowns. "What?" Sanghyuk says. "That's all?"

"No, I need to discuss something with Taekwoon," Hakyeon shrugs, wondering if it was too casual. "Switch on the shower."

Taekwoon's glance stops Sanghyuk from protesting, and he goes. When the sound of water comes, Taekwoon speaks first, barely audible. "You pose an even greater danger than me."

"I do," Hakyeon says, matching his volume. He can almost see Sanghyuk grumbling in frustration. "You saw it last night, didn't you."

"A normal person wouldn't have run that fast, Sanghyuk told me you all... but I thought..." Taekwoon frowns. "How?"

"I wasn't exactly in the best state of mind after losing both my parents to a vampire and nearly getting sucked dry by one," Hakyeon says drily. "A vampire hunter who couldn't even protect his own family," Hakyeon snorts, shaking his head. "That wasn't the breaking point. It was when Sanghyuk came. I got too attached, don't get me wrong, I never regretted it, but he had to be taken away from me for a while for the adopting process to go through and, I cracked. Again. Kyungsoo, you know him, he warned me, but do you really think I was listening?"

"I would say it is fascinating," Taekwoon says. "But is that too much?"

Hakyeon laughs, wondering if this was Taekwoon's charm. "No," Hakyeon says, he pauses. "If you need reassurance from me..."

"I don't think you will ever hurt Sanghyuk," Taekwoon says simply. Hakyeon wants to tell him he thinks wrong, that he has seen worse. Taekwoon reaches out, too fast for Hakyeon to move away, and so he's grabbing onto Hakyeon's wrist to get his attention. The warmth of his skin startles him, but he can't pull away. "Sanghyuk talks about you a lot," Taekwoon continues, as if Hakyeon has not frozen up. "I'd like you to stay well, because I think Sanghyuk would feel like he lost his family again in the same way if you don't."

Hakyeon doesn't stop to consider the words that slip past his lips. "Aren't you going to be with him forever?"

"You're different," Taekwoon says, smiling again. "He says you are _his_ hyung. You..." Taekwoon stops, lips parting, before he presses them together tightly again.

Hakyeon pulls his arm away. "What?"

"You should stop," Taekwoon says. "Before it's too late."

Hakyeon thinks it's already too late.

When Hakyeon goes to fetch Sanghyuk from the bathroom, he comes out suspiciously.

"I'm fine," Hakyeon says, when Sanghyuk grabs onto his hand, asking silently. "I told you, as long as you like him."

"Yeah," Sanghyuk says. "Taekwoon probably thinks this is dumb or something."

"He should know that it's important for you to have me approve of him," Hakyeon says. He frowns, raising an eyebrow. "It is important to you, right?"

"Of course!" Sanghyuk yelps. Hakyeon laughs, looping an arm over Sanghyuk's shoulders and squeezing. "You really are alright?" Sanghyuk asks as Hakyeon pulls him back into the living area, where Taekwoon waits.

"Look," Hakyeon says irritatibly, planting a hand onto Taekwoon's shoulder. "I can touch him. Yay." Taekwoon's eyes are wide, surprised at him, and Hakyeon removes his hand, point proven. "I'm going home," Hakyeon lies, and this time he leaves without anyone stopping him.

They know better than to try anyway.

~~~

"How was Taekwoon," Kyungsoo says, the moment he opens the door and Hakyeon frowns at him. "Sanghyuk texted."

"Nice, I suppose," Hakyeon says, going upstairs and falling onto the wider couch. "Mind if I crash here tonight?"

"As if you actually mean to ask," Kyungsoo says, rummaging in the cupboards before locating Hakyeon's extra clothes and tossing it to him. "I don't even bother keeping the blankets anymore."

"I'll also need more of the medicine." Kyungsoo doesn't ask, and Hakyeon changes quickly before Kyungsoo returns with a glass of it. He places it on the coffee table before sitting opposite Hakyeon.

The silence is comforting, Hakyeon's head finally clear of the ringing noise and Sanghyuk's endless attempts at convincing Hakyeon of Taekwoon.

"He saw, my eyes, you know, do the thing," Hakyeon comments. "I was caught off-guard."

Kyungsoo nods, leaning his elbows on his thighs as he leans forward. "He's following way too closely in my footsteps," Hakyeon sighs.

"Except Taekwoon has no ill intentions," Kyungsoo remarks. "And he didn't exactly hypnotise the shit out of Sanghyuk. Unlike your case."

Hakyeon picks at his fingers, rubbing at his palm with his thumb. "I hope so."

"Auras don't lie," Kyungsoo shrugs. "Remember when Dad used to talk about vampires having powers, Taekwoon is one of them."

"Lovely," Hakyeon says. "So he saw my panic."

"Anyone could have seen your panic," Kyungsoo teases. He glances behind him when one of the doors click open, Yoongi blearily sticking his head out. Only one eye was open as he squints at the two of them, and Hakyeon waves, before he mumbles something and slams the door back shut.

"Shut it," Hakyeon says. "I still don't have your head for not telling me anything."

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. "He comes over, sometimes, with questions for me."

"Questions?"

"He asked if I have any knowledge of human-vampire relationships," Kyungsoo leans down, rummaging at the shelves under the coffee table. He comes back up, heaving the book onto the table. It lands with a intimidating thud, the spine quivering like it was threatening to fall apart. "And I did. Or this book did anyway. Apparently it was a high society thing in the past to ''mingle' with the vampires. Very cultish. But this mage did more research than that. Don't ask me why Dad has this book," Kyungsoo makes a face. "I don't want to know either."

Hakyeon flips through the yellow and frail pages. "And so..."

"He was worried he's going to kill Sanghyuk or something, hurt him, I don't know what exactly he's afraid of," Kyungsoo murmurs, distracted by his own thoughts. "He even asked about..." Kyungsoo looks up, lips pressed tightly together. "You know."

Hakyeon snorts, rubbing his face. "Ah, Do Kyungsoo, the sex-ed teacher."

"I think he was more worried about giving off all that extra," Kyungsoo flaps hands around himself in the air. "Vampiric magic."

"Only if his blood was exposed..."

"Yeah," Kyungsoo says. "Anyway, vampires like him regain a lot of their human traits, you've seen his eyes, they are human coloured."

"Because he drinks less blood," Hakyeon suggests.

Kyungsoo shakes his head. "I think there is a sweet spot," he says, using his finger to conjour an imaginary scale into the air with white sparks. "Too little blood, they go insane, weaker than the average vampire, but insane," and the scale tips too far to the left. "A lot and you become strong, but animalistic, feral, like the ones you hunt." The scale falls to the right. "Vampires like Taekwoon, especially since he's a sloth, don't eat much, but he's strong, and as you can see, very much in control of his memories, and he appears and behaves largely human." The scale slowly to levels parallel to the table.

Hakyeon shuts the book. He can see Taekwoon's eyes flashing the inhumane colour of a vampire's eyes. He knows all of them—steel blue, molten gold, iridescent silver, blood red, covered with a metallic sheen that were consistent with the metallic tone of a feral vampire. "So what you are telling me is that I have nothing to worry about with Taekwoon."

"He worries about himself being around Sanghyuk than you, trust me. He's fucking terrified," Kyungsoo laughs, shaking his head. "It's all so new for him. I'd even bet Sanghyuk is better at the dating thing than him."

"Let's not talk about Sanghyuk's..." Hakyeon clears his throat. "Experience."

Kyungsoo smirks. "What you mean that he has probably had se-"

"Nope!" Hakyeon screeches, throwing his pillow at Kyungsoo's face. Kyungsoo laughs, the corner of his eyes crinking as he throws it back. The pillow lands back on Hakyeon with a soft noise, and Hakyeon huffs, patting it down nicely. He looks up at Kyungsoo, who has already stood up. "Kyungsoo?"

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow at him. "You aren't going to go all mushy on me are you, I know that face."

"Thanks for talking with me," Hakyeon says, grinning when Kyungsoo grits his teeth.

"It's the only way for you to stop worrying about things," Kyungsoo grumbles, looking skyward like he wishes to disappear away from Hakyeon's sincerity. "Night," Kyungsoo says, as he slowly walks backwards back to his room.

Hakyeon sleeps.

\-----

 

Hakyeon doesn't remember much.

He remembers a tall, lithe man, with a voice that flowed like melting chocolate, surprising Hakyeon from behind. He was on a hunt, he thinks, he remembers the reassuring weight of his knife on his hip and the cool metal of of his bow pressing against his palm.

Hakyeon blinked into pretty blue eyes, a blue that was more like the colour of finished steel. They sent shivers down Hakyeon's spine as a cool hand slipped itself around Hakyeon's hand, as lips found his, as words slipped into his ear soothed his initial panic.

No danger at all, no.

Hakyeon tumbled into something that felt more like a fever dream now that he thinks back on it, the hazy awareness of this man kissing him, convincing Hakyeon that Hakyeon loved this man and that Hakyeon should introduce this man to his parents eventually.

Eventually came, eventually, came and took Hakyeon's parents away, came and nearly drank the life out of Hakyeon.

Hakyeon woke up feeling like he was floating, and he had no strength to push himself up, so he had to bear with turning his head to the side and seeing Kyungsoo's father bring down a thick silver rod into a stranger's heart. When he turned his head to the other side, gaze passing the dark night sky, he sees the bloodless, trampled, drained bodies of his parents, eyes wide and mouths open in silent, soundless screams.

Hakyeon remembers fighting a dark heavy weight that was forcing his eyes shut, remembers wondering what had gone so wrong.

Today when Hakyeon thinks of the man that took his sanity and made Hakyeon pay for it, his body recoils and his mind slams the door shut. However, there is also a meaningless flutter of the heart.

And it makes Hakyeon retch.

**Author's Note:**

> Between Hakyeon and Sanghyuk there's ten years, between Hongbin and Sanghyuk there's 6 years. If you are wondering. huhuhu


End file.
